Tolerance of membranous inner ear structures to pressure

Pressure tolerance of round and oval labyrinthine windows and a cochlear segment represented by a part of the cochlear duct were investigated in experiments on cadaveric human temporal bones. The cochlear segment is less resistant than both the windows. Inner ear spaces are protected from pressure changes in the surroundings of the temporal bone by a system of narrow and comparatively long connections and some of them include also other structures strengthening the protective function (the valve described near the place where the cochlear aqueduct leads to scala tympani). Experiments with guinea pigs showed significance of inner ear integrity in protection from pressure changes. Tolerance of both windows was significantly higher in live animals than in cadaveric guinea pig bullae. Pressure tolerance of the windows was in turn higher in bullae than in isolated inner ear labyrinth. Conclusions were arrived at on the basis of the above facts that the inner ear is considerably resistant to pressure changes around it under normal circumstances. Ruptures in its parts appear only under special conditions and a number of factors participate in them. Window ruptures accompany most frequently injuries in other inner ear structures to which different degrees of hearing loss correspond. An isolated injury of windows is, from this viewpoint, rare even though it can be found and treated surgically best.